“Did she give you her name?” he asks, pulling her tighter to his side. “Is that why she struggles to get back to your camp?”
I purse my lips, but it seems to be the only answer he needs.
“Renounce your command,” he says, and there’s a pleading quality to his voice. “Every moment she’s forced to struggle against it is torture for her. You can’t imagine the damage it could cause if it continues too long.”
My heart squeezes as I go over the exact wording of the command I gave her.Do not leave this tent until I return for you. I gave no other expiration but my return. Is it possible her obedience would be enforced forever? I breathe in deeply to maintain my composure. “You should just let her go then.”
“I will,” he says, raising his free hand in a gesture of surrender. “Revoke your order and I promise I will let her go.”
My eyes move from him to Amelie. She seems completely unaware of all that’s transpiring around her, eyes squeezed shut, face turning crimson as she screams soundlessly. He must have ordered her not to make a sound.
My hands begin to tremble. I can’t let her suffer like that. I can’t.
“Amelie.” My voice fills with the power of her name. “I have returned to you. You are no longer required to wait in the tent for my return.”
Just like that, her mouth snaps shut, tortured expression relaxing. As promised, Cobalt lets her go, and Amelie slides to the ground, limp, weak. Her copper hair hangs around her face and her shoulders heave as if she’s sobbing.
When I return my attention to Cobalt, he’s smiling. “Amelie,” he says, dropping something onto the ground before her. It only takes a moment for me to realize it’s a coral-bladed dagger. “Kill Evelyn.”
My sister reaches a quivering hand to grasp the hilt and rises slowly to her feet. When her hair parts, her tortured expression returns. This time, tears stream down her cheeks, and her mouth moves, forming the wordnoover and over. With a heave, she lunges forward, movements wild and erratic.
Before I can consider it, the words leap from my lips. “Amelie, kill Cobalt!”
She halts mid-step, shoulders sagging as she whirls back toward him. His eyes widen for a moment before he points at me. “I gave the order first, kill your sister!”
Again, she turns to me, but she doesn’t take another step. She begins to tremble from head to toe, subtly at first, then rippling into full-body convulsions. Her eyes roll back in her head and a stream of scarlet blood trickles from her nose, over her lips and chin.
“Revoke your commands,” Cobalt says, eyes flashing from Amelie to me. “Revoke them now, or she dies!” Again, there’s no threat in his tone, only mad panic.
“You revoke them first!” I shout back.
Amelie falls to the ground, convulsing in the dirt.
Cobalt puts a hand to his chest, his breathing labored as he watches my sister. Part of me knows this is the perfect time to attack Cobalt, catch him unaware, but the rest of me can’t take my eyes off my sister. More blood continues to pour from her nose, her face turning a chilling shade of blue.
“Amelie, I revoke all orders.” Cobalt’s words come out strained, choked on a sob.
Amelie sucks in a deep inhalation, her convulsions calming back to a mild tremble, but she doesn’t open her eyes.
Cobalt’s gaze flashes to mine, his expression accusatory. “You must revoke yours too,” he says with a sneer. “She’s been overcome. She will not recover if you don’t free her from your orders.”
He could be lying. I know this. And yet, despite everything that’s happened, every doubt I still hold about my sister’s allegiance, I can’t take the chance that my actions could be killing her.
“Amelie, I revoke all orders,” I say.
Finally, she gasps again and goes still, the blue pallor already receding from her face.
“I’m so sorry.” Cobalt steps toward Amelie, arms outstretched, but I leap forward, daggers raised.
“Don’t touch her,” I hiss.
His expression hardens, lips peeling back from his teeth as he meets my glare. “You could have killed her.”
“Why do I get the feeling that would have been a mercy compared to everything you’ve done to her?”
“You know nothing! I love her.”
My lips quirk into a cruel grin. “Well, she doesn’t love you.”
